Keir Starmer is out. The swift resignation of the prime minister on Monday, just days after Andy Burnham crushed the competition in the Makerfield by-election, has triggered a brutal reality check in Westminster. We're no longer talking about the "King of the North" as some distant concept. Burnham is in the building, sworn in as an MP, and preparing to take the keys to Number 10.
But while the public might love his straight-talking, rail-nationalising energy, the financial markets are terrified. Public borrowing just shot up to £23.3 billion, and bond investors are sweating over Burnham’s historically loose talk on government debt. If he wants to survive his first 100 days, he needs an iron-clad team to reassure the City of London while delivering the radical change he promised.
The frantic rush is on. The transition team is working overdrive, fending off dozens of hopefuls trying to insert their names into the next Cabinet. Let's look at who actually has Burnham's ear and who is positioning themselves for the biggest jobs in government.
The Three Northern Power Women Running the Show
Forget the old boys' club. Burnham’s dramatic re-entry into parliament wasn't engineered by legacy Whitehall spin doctors. It was delivered by three female MPs who form the absolute core of his transition team. If you want to know what a Burnham administration looks like, look at them.
Louise Haigh
The former transport secretary didn't just manage his Makerfield campaign; she practically demanded Starmer’s exit on national television before the dust had even settled. Haigh is the structural architect of Burnham’s policy machine. She is currently managing the blueprint for government and ensuring that his flagship policies, like full rail nationalisation, hit the ground running. She is practically a lock for a massive structural Cabinet role.
Anneliese Midgley
Midgley is the political lead, managing the volatile relationships with the trade unions and the wider Labour Party. Her resume is fascinating. She has worked with everyone from Ken Livingstone and Jeremy Corbyn to being a top political director at Unite, before helping Starmer's project. She knows where the bodies are buried in the party machine, and she’s the one keeping the backbenches aligned behind Burnham.
Sally Jameson
While Haigh handles policy and Midgley handles politics, Jameson handles the cold, hard numbers. She has been leading the whipping operation, quietly counting the votes and securing the endorsements of the Labour MPs needed to ensure Burnham’s transition is a total coronation rather than a bloody internal war.
The Treasury Civil War: Who Gets the Chancellorship?
This is where things get incredibly messy. Burnham needs to name a Chancellor who can immediately calm the gilt markets, but his inner circle is fiercely divided over who that should be.
Potential Chancellor Candidates:
- Ed Miliband: Backed by the left, heavy experience, but despised by big business.
- Wes Streeting: Former Health Secretary who dropped out of the leadership race; seeking a major fallback deal.
- Shabana Mahmood: Supported by Burnham loyalists for her legal rigour, but lacks fiscal credentials.
- Rachel Reeves: The continuity choice, privately lobbying to stay put to prevent market panic.
Ed Miliband has been aggressively burnishing his credentials for the job. He has the intellect and the Treasury experience from the Brown era, and he swung his heavy political weight behind Burnham early. But the City has a long memory. Business leaders still shudder at his old "predators versus producers" rhetoric. Senior Treasury officials are also whispering that Miliband is too dominant and would try to overpower Burnham from Number 11.
That leaves a few fascinating alternatives. Wes Streeting abruptly dropped out of the leadership race just an hour after Starmer resigned, realizing he didn't have the numbers to beat Burnham. His allies are now hunting for a deal, and the Treasury is the ultimate prize.
Meanwhile, some Burnham loyalists are pushing for Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to move to the Treasury, arguing her forensic, rigorous style would reassure investors. But the safe money might actually be on continuity. Rachel Reeves is privately making the case that keeping her in place is the only way to prevent a full-blown market meltdown.
The Permanent Fixture and the Policy Brains
Beyond the elected politicians, Burnham relies on a tiny, hyper-protective inner circle of strategists who have been with him for years.
- Kevin Lee: If you want to speak to Burnham, you go through Kevin. He has been Burnham’s chief of staff and absolute right-hand man for over 15 years. He navigated the shadow cabinet years, the mayoral campaigns, and the nine years in Greater Manchester. They are an inseparable package deal.
- Josh Simons: The former Makerfield MP famously stepped down from his safe seat to allow Burnham his route back into parliament. That kind of loyalty doesn't go unrewarded. Simons, an intellectual with a deep policy background, has been campaigning right beside Burnham and is widely expected to take a massive behind-the-scenes role as a chief policy adviser in Downing Street.
What Happens Right Now
The timeline has completely shattered. Burnham’s team originally wanted a slow burn, aiming for a grand coronation speech at the Labour party conference in Liverpool this September. Starmer's immediate resignation ruined that plan. A long power vacuum is dangerous; it gives the right-wing media and political enemies too much time to weaponise the worsening migration numbers and the surging national debt against a prime minister in waiting.
Expect Burnham to move with whiplash speed. Informal market guides like former OBR chief Richard Hughes and Goldman Sachs economist Lord Jim O'Neill are already being consulted behind closed doors to draft a fiscal statement. The next immediate hurdle isn't just building a Cabinet—it's proving to the global markets that the new government can actually manage a balance sheet.
